Scandals continue to rock the El Paso area, and experts say they are creating a sense of hope and hopelessness.

The arrest Wednesday of County Commissioner Willie Gandara Jr., along with the torrent of leaders implicated in the FBI's public-corruption investigation and questionable activities at the El Paso Police Department and in local communities, is hammering at the mindset of residents, said experts and local elected officials.

Gandara's arrest on drug charges was a surprise to many.

It comes after the convictions of two former county judges, the indictment of a third and a growing public-corruption investigation that has produced 40 arrests or indictments.

Experts with significant experience with government corruption said it's important to maintain hope -- and to have a long-term plan to bring about meaningful reform.

The area also has been hit with other troubles:

Five former El Paso police officers -- the most recent on Feb. 16 -- have been indicted after an investigation into irregularities in overtime pay linked to grant-funded traffic enforcement. They are accused of falsifying records to collect money from a state grant.

On Feb. 13, the Texas Rangers and the FBI searched the home of longtime Anthony (Texas) Mayor Art Franco.

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News reports have said that the law enforcement agencies suspect misappropriation of funds, but Franco has denied that.

Fernando Rodriguez, director of UTEP's Criminal Justice Program, was placed on paid administrative leave earlier this month as administrators investigate whether to try to discipline him for not following university policies. Rodriguez failed to report years of outside work -- including his pivotal role in a contract that is at the heart of the latest developments in El Paso's public-corruption investigation.

In Sunland Park, the mayor pro tem and the city manager were arrested Saturday on extortion charges in a political race.

All the news of arrests and indictments is affecting people differently, he said.

"Some say the system works because we're catching people," Cook said. "The ones I worry about are painting this with a broad brush."

Chicago residents know well what it's like to see the officials they elected frog-marched off to jail.

Since 1976, a third of the city's aldermen have been convicted of corruption, according to a report released Feb. 15 by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Four of Illinois' seven governors since 1970 also have been convicted -- including Rod Blagojevich, who tried to sell President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat. In all, Illinois has seen 1,828 people convicted on public-corruption charges since 1976, the report said.

All that law enforcement has failed to bring about lasting change, said Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman who now heads the political science department and was the lead author of the University of Illinois at Chicago report.

"Individual corruption convictions do not cure corruption; they almost never have," Simpson said on Thursday. "We have a 150-year history of it here."

The democratic process is weakened when public trust is damaged, experts said. A lack of trust creates a dangerous void, they said, which can lead to a downward spiral.

Honest people not involved in illegal schemes tend to stop participating, whether that means deciding against a run for office or not to vote, said Bruce A. Huhmann, chairman of New Mexico State University's Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative. And lack of participation makes it easier for people with selfish agendas to gain positions of political power, he said.

"That trust takes a long time to build, and it's easy to destroy," Huhmann said. "It harms the government's ability to do its job."

Corruption also damages the public psyche, said Mario Rivera, University of New Mexico Regents' Professor of public administration.

Trust is higher in cultures with economic equality, he said, where parents feel their children will be able to do better than they did.

More people volunteer, and honest people run for office, he said.

"They see a shared fate for everyone," he said. "(Corruption) undercuts that in very vicious ways. Only people who are connected or wired are going to do well. ... And there's a sense that the wealthy have gotten wealthy from unfair advantage."

And corruption has its own culture, Rivera said.

"People have a higher or exclusive loyalty to some sort of in-group," Rivera said. "And their criteria for serving some people over others is loyalty."

Historic examples of such groups, he said, include the political machines in Chicago and Louisiana, and the patronage system in New Mexico.

Cook said he believes that in El Paso, the cases that have attracted the attention of law enforcement in recent years used to represent the normal way business was done by many elected officials.

He said a "new breed" of officials, such as he and city Reps. Susie Byrd and Steve Ortega have helped combat corruption. Indictments and convictions have also sent a message to elected officials who might be considering some crooked act in exchange for sums of money that often are shockingly small, Cook said.

"Not only is it going to cost you money, it's going to cost you your reputation and in some cases your family," Cook said.

But more is needed, said Simpson of the University of Illinois at Chicago. At the heart of any solution is a commitment to a broad plan that spans decades.

"It can be done, but it isn't easy or simple," he said.

Simpson has proposed a series of reforms for Chicago government, such as applying the city's ethics ordinance to aldermen and their staffs and giving the inspector general access to all city records, including those held in secret by the corporation counsel -- the Illinois name for a city attorney.

Huhmann, of New Mexico State, said reforms in his state are well under way.

"In New Mexico, there are a lot of people now trying to turn the system around," Huhmann said. "The state has passed a law that all public employees have to have some ethics training each year."

NMSU is creating an ethics training program for state employees, Huhmann said. And New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's political appointees also have received ethics training, he said.

"I think the culture in New Mexico is starting to turn around," Huhmann said. "It's amazing how much you can get done when you have public trust."

But restoring honesty in government will add another burden for taxpayers.

"If you have to be worried about your public officials, you have to put in checks and balances," Huhmann said. "If you change the rules and add extra layers of security and all, those things are going to cost money."

Audits can ensure that public money is not stolen, the experts said. Procurement reform, including the process initiated by the El Paso County Commissioners Court to choose a new financial adviser, add time and can require additional resources.

"It does cost money, but we have to know that they're (elected officials) taking steps to show the county commission is honest," Huhmann said. "People need to feel that, 'We've uncovered all the wrongdoings. Everybody who's bad is now out and now we're going to start fresh.'"

In addition to changing the way financial advisers are chosen, El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar has championed other reforms, including a beefed-up county ethics ordinance and more transparent procurement procedures.

But more fundamental things are needed, she said, listing among them an aggressive, responsible news media, ethical, aggressive law enforcement and an active, engaged citizenry.

Escobar said she is working to attract honest, talented candidates to run for office in the next election cycle instead of allowing so many incumbents to run unopposed. "I still am optimistic," Escobar said.

Just feet from El Paso, Juárez residents probably have more reason for pessimism than in any city in the United States.

"The government here never did the right thing," said Hernan Ortiz, a professor at Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.

He described a society in which black-market vendors bribe officials to avoid paying taxes, depriving the public of much-needed revenue for such purposes as an effective mass-transit system.

"Everyone knows about it," Ortiz said.

Likening the ruling class in Juárez to a royal court of the Middle Ages, Ortiz said the city sets aside $700,000 a year for college scholarships, while it is spending $2.3 million on a metal sculpture for the Chamizal park that is of dubious artistic value and is taking an inordinately long time to complete.

"It's a red X like you got something bad on your exam," Ortiz said.

Though Juárez lacks a tradition of an honest government and shows scant evidence of one now, Ortiz hasn't given up the most basic element of reform -- hope.

"It's not the government that makes things happen in Ciudad Juárez, it's the people," Ortiz said. "I think people have hope in people."

Cook holds similar hopes for the people of El Paso. "The everyday person needs to get involved in what their officials are doing," the mayor said. "Hold them to task. There are honest people out there and dishonest people out there."